In this tutorial I'll show you how to create a Wolverine photo manipulation. We'll go through a variety of photo manipulation techniques including blending, retouching, lots of painting, adjusting color, creating lighting effects, and more.

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial:

1. Add the Background

Step 1

Create a new 1500 x 1000 px document in Adobe Photoshop with the given settings:

Step 2

Open the factory image. Drag this image into the white canvas using the
Move Tool (V). Activate the Free Transform Tool (Control-T) to adjust
its perspective as shown below:

Step 3

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and change the Radius to 7 px:

This step is to add some depth to the scene.

Step 4

Use an Adjustment Layer and set it as Clipping Mask to desaturate the
background. Select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation
and bring the Saturation value down to -84:

Step 5

Make two Curves Adjustment layers (set as Clipping Mask) to darken the background.

2. Prepare the Model

Step 1

Isolate the model image from the background using your familiar method. I've found an image of a man with a perfect pose for this tutorial, but feel free to use
your own muscular ones! Make a New Layer with fill color between the background and the extracted model and fill with any medium dark colors.

Step 2

I've noticed that the man's hairstyle doesn't really fit the character
we're creating, so I'll be using an image with another hairstyle to fix it. Open the hair
image and isolate the head only using your favorite method.

Drag this image into the first document and use the Transform Tool (Control-T) to rotate the head to fit the existing one.

Step 3

Click the second icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to add a mask to
this layer. Use a soft round Brush with black color (soft black brush)
to erase the hard edges and blend the forehead and hair with the
existing head. Lower the brush Opacity when brushing around the forehead
to make the blended area smooth and natural.

Step 4

Use a Hue/SaturationAdjustment Layer to make the forehead color and
hair match the existing one. Change the Hue value of Yellows to -23:

Step 5

You can see that the light and shadow on the second head part doesn't fit the first. In the first image, the light on the head comes straight
from above while in the second it comes from the left and makes a shadow
on the right. Make a new layer and use the Clone Tool (S) to correct
this skin area.

3. Add the Model

Step 1

Hide the background layer and the fill layer and then hit
Control-Shift-Alt-E to Merge All the transparent layers into a new one.
Move the merged model into our working document and place him in the
middle:

Step 2

Use
the Liquify Tool to retouch the model a bit. Go to Filter > Liquify
Tool and choose the Forward Warp Tool. Use this tool to increase the
muscles near the neck, make the face a bit bigger and the chin shorter.

Step 3

Create a New Layer (set as Clipping Mask) and use a soft Brush with the
color #9a6349 and opacity about 30% to reduce the highlight on the
armpits, body and arms. We're aiming to make another light affect these areas, but it's not very strong so we don't need many highlights.

Step 4

Add a Hue/SaturationAdjustment Layer and reduce the Saturation value to -73:

Step 5

The model looks too bright compared with the background, so use a Curves Adjustment Layer and decrease the lightness:

On this layer mask, use a soft black Brush to define the light and
shadow on the model. Remember the light on him comes straight from
above. You can see how I did it on the layer mask and the result in the
picture:

Step 6

The man looks less rough and wild. Make a new layer, change the Blend Mode to Overlay 100% and fill with 50% gray:

Activate the Dodge and Burn Tool (O) with Midtones Range and Exposure
about 15-25% to correct the light and shadow on the man and draw more
details on his body. Also paint the tendons on his arms, neck and
shoulders, and the veins on his face, especially on the forehead to
strengthen the look, making him more tense and terrific when screaming.
Here are the results with Blend Mode in Normal mode and Overlay mode:

Step 7

Create
a new layer and select a hard black Brush. Lower its size to 2-3 px to
paint the hairs on his chest and the middle area of the body, and also paint on the
arms and hands. The Wolverine must be a hairy one!

Step 8

Make a New Layer and use a medium-soft Brush with the color #443f3b to
paint the bright hairs on top of the head, especially on the right to
fit the light there.

4. Add the Smoke

Step 1

Create a New Layer on top of the layers and press D to turn the
foreground and background to Default (black and white). Go to Filter
> Render > Clouds:

Reduce the Opacity to 80% and use a Layer Mask to erase the effect on
the upper half and leave it visible only on the lower. Don't make it
cover the man's body—just leave a subtle effect there.

Step 2

Use a Channel Mixer Adjustment Layer to change the smoke color:

Step 3

Make a New Layer and use a soft Brush with the color #7fc1d7 to make the
smoke effect a bit brighter and more vibrant. Change this layer's Blend Mode to Soft
Light 100%:

5. Make the Metal Claws

Step 1

We're in the most interesting stage of the tutorial: making the metal
claws. Create a New Layer on top of the layers and use the Pen Tool (P)
to draw a shape like the claws we often see in the movie. Fill it with
any colors you like, but bright ones so that they can be seen clearly on the dark
background.

Duplicate this layer five times. Place the claws between the fingers and use the Transform Tool (Control-T) to change their perspective. You can see that the poses of the
hands are not the same—they're a bit different in angle and
position—so the claws should follow them.

Step 2

Add
a Mask to each of these layers and use a hard black Brush to make the
claws come from the split of the fingers. Don't use a soft Brush for
that because it will leave soft and unnatural edges. Group them in a new
folder by selecting all of them and pressing Control-G. We'll be using these
shapes as a guide.

Step 3

Open the metal image. Select a metal bar on the left side using the Polygonal
Lasso Tool (L) and add it to a claw on the left. Use the Transform Tool (Control-T) to warp it following the shape of the claw. Make the bright contour of the bar shown on the left side.

Load the selection of the correlative shape by holding the Control key
and clicking its thumbnail. Click the Add Layer Mask icon to get the result
below:

Step 4

Load the layer mask thumbnail of the shape.

Press Control-I to Invert the selection:

Still on the layer mask, switch the foreground to white and hit Delete. We have the result:

Step 5

Use the same technique to add the other claws. After finishing, switch off the shape group as we don't need it anymore.

Step 6

Make
a group for the claw layers and change the group mode to Normal 100%.
Use a Curves Adjustment Layer to darken the claws, and also increase the
contrast to make the 3D effect more visible. The selected areas show where
to paint on the layer mask:

Step 7

Add another Curves adjustment layer to decrease the highlight on the
claws more. Their bottoms still look so bright at the moment.

After masking off the light, here is the result:

Step 8

Create a new layer, change the Blend Mode to Overlay 100% and fill with 50%
gray. Use the DodgeTool to increase the hair highlight and the Burn
Tool to darken the bottom of the claws to make them blend well with
the hands.

6. Add the Light Effect

Create a New Layer and use a soft Brush with the color #659eb2 to paint
the blue light effect on the model's body. Take care of the curvy areas;
the light on them should be brighter and stronger.

Change this layer Blend Mode to Overlay 100%:

7. Add the Particles

Step 1

Add the particles image to the current document using the Move Tool. Change this layer Blend Mode to Screen 100%:

Step 2

Use the Liquify Tool to distort the particles, making them look as if they're flying from the bottom. Also try to make the effect look ghostly and unreal— we're in a fantasy world!

Step 3

Apply a Gaussian Blur of 2 px to soften the particles:

Step 4

Use a Layer Mask to reduce the particle intensity. Also make some
particles fade and appear less visible than the others—it helps to increase
the depth.

Step 5

Add a Channel Mixer adjustment layer to change the particle color to fit the smoke light:

8. The Final Adjustment

Step 1

Make a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer on top of the layers and pick the
colors #e10019 and #00601b. Lower the opacity of this layer to 20%.

Step 2

Add a Color Fill layer and pick the color #280002. Set this layer Blend Mode to Exclusion 100%:

Step 3

Use a Color Balance adjustment layer and change the Midtones and Highlights settings:

Step 4

Make a Photo Filter adjustment layer and pick the color #66afd8:

Step 5

Create a CurvesAdjustment Layer to increase the contrast of the whole scene:

Step 6

The last step: use a Levels Adjustment Layer and decrease the lightness.

The following areas show where to paint on the layer mask:

Congratulations, You're Done!

I hope that you've enjoyed my tutorial and learned something new. Feel free to share your ideas or comments in the box below—I'd love to see them. Enjoy Photoshopping!